Vault 23
by Dommax17
Summary: This is the story of the Vault dwellers of Vault 23, their experiences in the vault and their experiences beyond the vault. The story follows a group of friends who have known each other almost from birth, two of which know what happened in their town just before the bombs dropped. (This story may have similarities to people you know but these are partly made up, partly true.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue 2077:**

Following the crashing sounds of the bomb sirens the men and women of Spring Valley who took every siren call seriously made their best try at escaping to the vault they had been assigned to, vault 23,but, as they were fleeing a large rebel squad looking for oil blocked their path;"Just where do you think you're going? You have to give us your oil first, you swines"

Father and Major of the areas CR(Californian Republic) forces Mjr. Adam Robinson stepped forward and said "Jack,Jacob get the women and children Out of here! We're going to have to settle this quick John"

To which Cpt. John Curthoys replied "Looks like it Cap" reaching for his trusted service rifle he called "Black Widow"

As the women and children began to flee with Jack and Jacob the rebels began firing towards the short amount of CR forces at the scene, many civilians were killed from the crossfire and some were just directly young child who refused to leave his fathers side young 'Dominic Robinson' struggled but still managed to pick up the hunting rifle his father was teaching him to use and started to fire towards the enemy but Adam turned to him, gave him his 1St Recon Beret and said "son, I want you to get everyone out of here safely can If you can do that I'll promote you to second lieutenant" to which he responded in a voice as deep as he could go "Yes sir!"

Along the way to the vault the young Dominic found his friend Jason crying and his sister Beth beside him sleeping, knowing he couldn't leave them behind he put his rifle on his back with his gun sling almost falling over doing so, and stretched out his hand to Jason and lifted him up, then picked up Beth. Just as this was happening their father and mother managed to re-unite with them, worriedly Stephanie(their mother) asked "where's Beth?" whilst picking up Jason, Dominic turned "right here". Their father quietly coughed and said "alright all of you get out of here now, I'll protect you until you reach the vault

Shortly after the little ones and Stephanie scurried off into the vault, the vault door closed to the sound of a faded voice shouting "WELL DONE LIEUTENANT ROBINSON!" to which Dominic shouted "DAD!" just then the ground shook heavily to the sound of a large bang, everyone except the children knew what had just happened outside, looking around they realised they were the only ones who had made it. Regretting that they were the only ones who made it and thinking of the tragedy of what had happened outside most began to cry. It was here that vault 23 had started functioning.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Clinic

Chapter 1 - The Clinic

2085 - 8 years after the bombs dropped

"I think that's enough for today Dom, well done, let's see here it's been 8 years now hasn't it" said Holly Sterling standing up, Dom(Dominic Robinson) stood up, walked out of the vault clinic and back to his room to draw.  
"Oh wait! you forgot your pencil-ca-" she sighs "well I guess he'll be back soon for it"

"I'm not sure if he'll recover anytime soon Jen, he hasn't changed a lot throughout the past 8 years, he's 12 now and still a mute, once we all leave the vault it will be hard for him to get on if he doesn't make friends with the other children here, even Jason is doing fine" said Holly,  
"You can't say that for sure yet and don't compare him to Jason, Jason can't even remember what happened that night for all we know that could be the only thing Dom thinks about" replied Jennifer.  
Holly sighed and then said "yeah, I guess you're right"

Jason limps into the clinic crying "I fell over..sniff..my leg hurts really bad..sniff."

"Ouch that one must hurt doesn't it sweetie, looks like he's sprained it Jen, let's get that fixed up quickly, lay down on the bed" said Holly. Holly lifts up some cooling gel and Jennifer picks up some bandages, "right let's get this done, we won't be long Jason don't worry"

Beth walked into the clinic just as the bandages are being finished "Brother! found you!" she shouts excitedly

Jason sighs, "yes Beth I'm here what happened?"

"nothing" she replied shyly "I just wondered where you were"

Dom walks in and looks around whilst *gesturing drawing*  
Jen points towards the desk "over there". Dom walked over to the desk, picked up his pencil-case waved at Beth and then walked out of the clinic

"What's his name? he never talks and why does he always wears that hat?" the two siblings asked in unison

Jen sighed "you really don't remember huh, that's Dominic"

"No, Dominic hangs out with David and Susan" Jason replied

"Jason, this is another Dominic, that's why we call him Dom, he used to be your best friend, he was also the one who carried Beth into the vault"

"Really? I thought it was mum" asked Beth quietly

"Nope, your mum carried your big brother" replied Jen

"Alright that answers who he is but what's with the hat? asked Jason

"That would be his fathers, that's all I'm going to say now lets all go have dinner" replied Jen

15 minutes later, in the vault diner everyone is gathered for dinner, Jason is sat with his little sister Beth along with Amelia, Dominic (Coy) was sitting with his friend David and with the overseer's daughter Susan and last Dom sitting on his own, all of the parents were sitting on the same row.

"Now for the main dish Salisbury steak with a side portion of eggs!" announced Mandy ecstatically  
Soon after dinner the three groups split up into each others rooms


	3. Chapter 2,1

**Chapter 2.1 - The Girls Room**  
 **2085 - 8 years after the bombs dropped**

As you walk down the metallic staircase from the diner to the residential area you hear every _trickle_ of water _splashing_ through each rusting pipe, the _banging_ of footstep and metal and also the endless _giggles_ of the girls playing around in each others rooms.

 **Down the hall, first door on the left was the accommodation of the Curthoy's family and usually the place in which you can find the girls if the** ** _giggling_** **didn't give it away, in there sat Beth, Amelia and Susan casually making friendly conversation and** ** _striking_** **up a few jokes every now and then but today there was a new topic.**

"Do you know the name of the silent boy?" said Beth  
"You know we don't Beth, no one does" said Aimee  
"I do" said Susan  
"Go on then, what is it?" asked Beth  
"I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to figure it out for yourself" replied Susan sarcastically  
"I was told it today, so if you can tell me his name then I'll give you my sweetroll tomorrow since my mum is making one" said Beth  
"Really? you know it Beth? how?" Asked Amelia shocked  
"Yes, Holly told me when my big brother was in the clinic today, he also waved at me" replied Beth, she spoke quieter "he even waved at me"  
"Let me get this straight, If I tell you his name you'll give me your sweetroll tomorrow" said Susan in amazement  
"Yes but you have to tell me here and now, not after you ask your dad" added Beth  
"erm...ok it's..um Daniel?" said Susan unsure  
"nope, you got the first letter right so I'll give you a tiny bit and don't worry Amelia, you can have a piece too" saying this she smiled at Amelia  
Amelia and Susan in unison smile and say "thank you"  
"So what is his name?" Susan asked shyly whilst blushing  
"You'll never believe it but it's Dominic"  
"Don't lie, Dominic hangs out with David" cut in by Amelia  
"That's what I thought too when I was first told but it really is Dominic but all the adults call him Dom, I also found out that his hat was his fathers" finished Beth  
"I thought he didn't have a father?" said Susan  
"I thought he was a ghost if I'm honest" pronounced Amelia

 **The conversations of the girls went on for another hour before they were interrupted,**  
"Girls, time for bed!" exclaimed Amelia's mother Mary  
"Uhhh" said the girls beginning to frown  
"Go on you two, you can come back tomorrow if you'd like to" said Mary smiling  
"Thank you" replied both girls starting to grin again  
"Goodnight" said each of the girls one after the other

 **And so each of the girls went to their own rooms and went to bed for a good night sleep, each looking forward to the sweetroll that they would be tasting the next day.**


	4. Chapter 2,2

**Chapter 2.2 - The Boys Room**  
 **2085 - 8 years after the bombs dropped**

 **If you cannot hear the boys when walking down the metallic staircase from the diner to the residential area could mean one of two things either they're all asleep which was a god-sent action or they were up to something which would not end well for anyone.**  
 **Down the hall, third door on the right was the accommodation of the Sterling family and also the place where most boys would hang around if they weren't already kicked out of and tonight the boys were here plotting their next big plan**

"Alright we'll go through this one last time, so you'd better listen to me this time Dave" said Dominic then he sighed "you lemon"  
"Yeah, yeah I will, you melon" replied David  
"Can we just get on with this already?" said Jason  
"Impatient as ever I see, ok.. first Dave is going to hack the door open, that's when Jason will run in and plant the fire cracker to go off when the door is next opened meanwhile I'll be distracting Aimee's mum so that she won't be here in time to tell us off, then once Jason is out Dave will close the door and then we play the waiting game" said Dominic confidently  
Jason sighs "do we have to, that games so boring"  
"well we don't know when he'll wake up so yes we have to" cut in David  
"alright at 6am we'll commence _**operation firestorm**_ " pronounced Dominic  
David opens up a vent to reveal a firecracker, a tripwire and two USB's  
"you know the usual, put these into the back of your alarm clocks tonight and here's the firecracker Jason" said David  
"yeah yeah" replied Jason"Right let's get some sleep so we aren't tired and mess something up in the morning" said Dominic

 **And so each of the boys went to their own rooms and went to bed for a good night sleep, each looking forward to the prank that they would be pulling the next day.**


End file.
